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LAWRENCE & LEWIS.

Carriage-Top Rest, I No..97,301. Patented Nov. 30,1869.

N. PETERS PHOTQUTHOGRAPH'ER, WASHINGTON n c,

dlnitul swat 000K C. LAWRENCE AND JAMES LEWIS, OF MARENGO, MICHIGAN.

Letters Po -tent No. 97,301, dated November 30, 1869.

IMPROVED REST FOR CARRIAGE-TOPS;

.The Schedule referred to ixrthese Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

To all whom it may concern Be it" known that we, 000K 0. LAWRENCE andJAMES LEWIS, both of Marengo, in the county of Calhoun, and State ofMichigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Carriage-TopRests, or Props; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the same, reference being bad to theannexed drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figurel exhibits our bracketrest, in perspective,

as usually made for hear tops- Figure 2 exhibits, also in perspective, amodified form, which. may be used for very light tops.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in bothfigures.

Our invention relates to an improvement in the manner of supporting andsteadying the tops of carriages when let down, and consists in theemployment of an adjustable bracket, or hub, furnished with a concaveseat, and arranged, in relation with the back carriage-top bows, tosupport and keep the top, when let down, in place, in a manner that wewill now proceed to describe, for the purpose of enabling others skilledin this art to properly construct the same.

A represents the broken-oh" curved corner of a carriage-seat rail,furnished with the usual branch propiron B, nutted at the end tosecuretlie foot of the main joint-brace. C, pivoted thereon. (See dottedlines.)

1n the ordinary mode of construction, a spool, covered with leather orother trimming material, is placed on this prop-iron, so as to fill thespace between the brace and seat-rail, on which covered spool the top,when let down, is supported, by means of the binder bows restingthereon.

There are many disadvantages attending this arrangement. In the firstplace, the said bow-prop irons, and the bow slat irons in front of theseat, are so near together, as compared with the overhang of the top,that when the top is suddenly let down, it acts like. the long weightedarm of a lever, the prop being the fulcrum, and either breaks the hindbows at the point of impact, or breaks some of the connecting-irons. Inaddition, no provision is made for the lateral displacement and bobbingup and down of the top, when driving over a rough road with the topdown.

. 'Io-remedy these defects, we secure on each of the prop-irons B, inthe place of the usual covered spool,

an arm or bracket-rest, D, the supporting end of which The projectingends of the arm-rests are provided with light concave-shell seats, asseen at d, and we find it convenient to form the sides with flaringsidelips I, to guidejthe hind carriage-top bows into place, and to slot,or otherwise perforate the shell-seatto lighten the same, and allow theready escape of mudsplashings.

The top bows may be readily held secure in their concave seats, whenlowered, so as to prevent the carriage-top from lifting, or swaying fromside to side, either by making the concavity of the shell-scatwedge-like, to nip the bows when inserted, or by leathern or.otherelastic bands, not shown, properly secured to the bows, so that whenlowered, said bands may he slipped over the concave seats (I, and holdsaid bows firmly down in place; and it will materially aid in keepingthe bands from slipping, if the under side of the seat-shell iscorrugated, as seenat i.

The position of thetop bows, when lowered, is indicated by the dottedlines.

Fig. 2.illust-rates a modified form of the rest, in which the shellconcave seat extcnds'the whole distance of the arm, and forms, in fact,the arm or brackct, itself.

We have already enumerated all the defects of the -old system, except,perhaps, the wear and tear occasioned by the lateral freedom to swayback and forth.

In our arrangement, the overhang of the carriagetop being reduced, theimpact of asudden fall is not sensibly felt, and the top bows beingsecured in concave seat-rests, there can be nd lateral displacement toproduce the strain, breakage, and wear, which result in the ordinarymode of supporting carriage-tops when lowered.

\Ve are aware that a device somewhat resembling that shown in fig. 2,of-our drawings, hasbeen made, but it has not the concave seat orflaring sides, and is not adjustable. To this device we lay no claim;but having thus described our invention,

What we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patcut, is this:

The arm-rests D, furnished with concave seats d,

and flaring side, I, whenconstructed and arranged substantially as shownand described, and adjustably fitted on" theprop-irons B of a shiftingor stationary can-iage-seat rail, substantially as and for the purposeset forth.

000K 0. LAWRENCE. JAMES LEWIS.

Witnesses:

' G. EGGLESTOX, U'TTO L. J ormsox.

